~Althia~

I had just finished taking a shower to keep myself awake as I waited for Zach to come back. I stepped out of the bathroom and saw a figure at the window. I quickly made my way to it and opened it to let Zach in

"How long have you been waiting there?" I asked him

"Not that long" He told me "I wasn't sure if I could come in or not in case one of your parents came into your room" He added

I nodded and brought him into a hug

"Are you feeling better?" Zach whispered

"A bit" I mumbled against his chest

We stayed hugging for a bit longer before I released

"I'll go tell my parents I'm going to bed" I told him

"Let me just change quickly" He replied

Zach went into my bathroom and soon came back out with some pajamas on

He walked over to my bed and sat on it while placing his bag near my table

I walked out of my room to the top of the stairs

"Mom! Dad! I'm going to bed!" I announced before going back to my room and closing the door

I turned and saw that Zach was now laying in my bed, under the covers, on his phone

I quickly turned off the lights and jumped in bed to join him

I reached over him and turned my lamp on before clinging onto him

"What do you wanna do?" He asked "Because we can watch a movie, or watch a series, or I can read to you, or we could eat the snacks I bro-" He continued but I put a finger to his lips to shush him since I heard something

Zach looked at me confused at first but his eyes went wide as he heard someone walk up the stairs

Quickly, Zach pulled the covers over his head and tried to make himself as flat as possible

I turned onto my side so my body was facing the door and I shut my eyes

I made small snoring sounds as I heard someone gently knock on my door and quietly open it

"Althia?" I heard my dad

I stirred a bit and slowly opened my eyes before shielding my face from the hallway light

"Dad?" I responded

"Sorry to bother you when you're trying to sleep but I just wanted to let you know that you don't need to go to school tomorrow if you don't want to" He told me

"Thanks Dad, but I'm fine with going" I responded

"Alright, get some rest sweetie. Goodnight and I love you" Dad said

"Love you too" I replied as he shut my door again

From under the covers, Zach gripped my waist but I stayed still until I heard him walk all the way back downstairs

Once I knew for sure that the coast was clear, I turned around as Zach popped his head out of the covers

I smiled as he gently laughed

I cupped his face in my hands and leaned in to kiss him

Zach brought me closer to him as one of my hands found the back of his neck

I parted my lips slightly as Zach's hands slowly went up and down my back

With no warning at all, Zach gripped my butt with both hands making me gasp as I felt him smirk against my lips

"You just had to go and ruin it" I shook my head as he laughed

"You knew it was coming" He replied softly

I just shook my head again and looked at him

"What do you want to do?" Zach asked after a couple of minutes of silence

"Can we just talk?" I questioned him "And eat the snacks you brought" I added with a sly smile

"I love how we almost got caught but you still heard me say that I brought snacks" Zach said as he leaned away to get to his bag

I sat up slightly as Zach pulled out a bag of hot Cheetos and a bag of mini Wonder Bars

//

"Okay, this is a good one" Zach said

I looked at him, trying to figure out what his question was going to be

"Your weirdest childhood crush?" Zach questioned

"Oh god" I mumbled

"Come on, you gotta answer" He said "I won't judge" He promised

"Okay well I had a huge crush on Troy Bolton-" I started but got interrupted

"Didn't all of the girls have a crush on him? I asked for your weirdest crush not your most obvious crush" Zach teased me

"Buddy, let me get to it" I glared at him and he put his hands up in defense "Like I was saying I had a huge crush on Troy Bolton and I legit thought he was a real person until I found out he was played by Zac Efron, hence why I love Zac so much still to this day" I continued what I had started to say "I also had a big ass crush on Jacob Black-" I went on

"Wait, were you team Jacob? Or team Edward?" Zach interrupted me again

"Edward" I answered "I wanted to have Jacob all to myself, duh, but I also thought that Jacob was a real person until I figured out that Taylor Lautner existed" I told him

"Oh my" Zach chuckled slightly "Alright, you're stalling, I can tell... Who was your weirdest crush?" He added, urging me

"I'm getting there!" I threw my hands up "I had and still do have the fattest crush on Paul Walker and Vin Diesel" I answered his question finally

"No way!" Zach exclaimed

"Shh" I covered his mouth with my hand "Listen, I grew up watching Fast and Furious, I was two and I was watching that shit! You can't blame me!" I told him

"That is hilarious" He replied

"Whatever" I rolled my eyes playfully "What is the weirdest food combination you've tried and kinda liked?" I asked him

"Oh god, you're gonna break up with me for this" Zach mumbled

"Come on, you've gotta tell me" I poked his side

"Ok, so nutella, tomatoes and cheese is actually the bomb" He said

I made a face of disgust as I looked at him

"How did you even think about making that combination?" I asked him

"Hey, look, I didn't judge your weird crush on dudes who drive fast so you can't judge my chocolate cheese tomatoes" Zach said, defending himself

"Alright, alright" I laughed

//

"Zachary, stop touching my face" I repeated myself for the hundredth time as I tried searching for the vine I had made a reference to but Zach was distracting me by acting like a child

Zach quietly mimicked me as he traced my lips

I quickly opened my mouth and bit him

"Did you just bite me?" He asked as he pulled his finger away from me

"Yes, now will you please watch this" I answered him

Zach leaned closer to me and before I knew what was happening, he bit me on the shoulder

"Ow!" I whined as Zach laughed then shushed himself and me

//

"Thia?" Zach said as I was leaning forward while he sat behind me trying to braid my hair

"Mmh?" I responded lazily

"I don't want to push any buttons or make you upset or anything but I'm just curious, since we've briefly talked about it and now with everything that happened today..." He trailed off

I turned and looked at him in the eyes

"What is it?" I questioned

"Why did you move to Crestmont?" Zach asked, keeping his voice low

I looked at him some more and took a deep breath

"It's a long story" I warned him

"We've got time" He replied, pulling me closer to him

I let myself fall into his arms as I took another deep breath before starting to talk

"As a kid, we moved around a lot. My parents' job required a lot of going around and so from a young age, I knew better than to get close with someone at school. There was no point. I'd start at a school and by the time I was starting to make friends, we'd have to move again and I'd have to start all over. So I mostly kept to myself and pushed kids away, telling myself I didn't need friends or I couldn't get attached to someone since it would hurt too much to say goodbye when the time came" I started

Zach looked at me and nodded his head, telling me that he was listening and encouraging me to continue

"Fast forward to 8th grade where I start at a new school. I still didn't need any friends because I'd just move again, right? Well after a whole school year of being a loner and still no moving, my parents announced that we were going to stay in that town and that I would finish my school there. Now we're in 9th grade, I started talking to people and I made friends. Hell, I was even on the junior cheerleading team. Anyways, these friends introduce me to other friends and so on and so on until I meet this one kid who's got this sort of mysterious bad vibe. I find myself hanging around him more. I start ditching my other friends for him, skipping class, skipping cheer meetings, flunking tests" I continued "I started hanging out with the wrong crowd and I totally lost myself but I liked it in a way, it was like I could live all of the lives that I might have missed out on when I was too busy moving around. The summer between 9th and 10th grade, that friend who started all of this became more than a friend. To me, he was the nicest guy ever but to everyone else he was a loser prick stupid ass dick. We've been together for the whole summer and the school year has just started when he decides that it was time for sex. We have done nothing but casual kissing and now he wanted to have sex. I said no and when he kept begging, I broke it off with him. I get to school the Monday after the breakup and everyone is whispering, giggling, gossiping" I went on "Turns out, the nicest guy ever decided to tell our entire grade that I gave him the worst head ever and that's why he broke up with me. To make it even worse, his buddy came out and said we had been hooking up on the low, all summer and that's why I never wanted to give him more than a blowjob. So here I am alone because I even brushed off his friends who were sorta my friends because I was so into him and I wanted only him. Nobody wanted me. I tried going back to my first actual friends, the ones from way back to the beginning of 9th grade, but they didn't want someone who blew them off and they certainly didn't want the school slut who didn't know how to suck dick and who hooked up with someones bestfriend while in a relationship. It got worse and worse as the days went by and when I finally told my parents, the damage was already done and there was nothing anyone could do so we moved here" I finished

"Wow" Was all Zach said

"Yeah" I agreed

"I am so sorry you had to go through that" He brought me into a hug "And I'm especially sorry that you had to go through being a cheerleader" He added, trying to lighten the mood

I couldn't help but laugh

"I went from being a loser to a cheerleader to a bad girl, to a school slut and now I'm the female jock" I said

"You're much more than that, darling" Zach whispered as he kissed the top of my head

"Can we watch Vines?" I asked him

"Yes" He answered making me smile

I flopped down onto my bed and he flopped down on me

"Ow, you're squishing my boobs" I pushed his head away

"Sorry" Zach said as he tried not to laugh

He wrapped his arms around me and gently laid his head on me again, seeing if I would say anything as I searched for good Vines to watch

Once I found a compilation, my hand found his hair and my fingers started to play in it as we watched the videos

-

I continued to play with Zach's hair even if he was snoring and was out like a light. I finished the compilation before turning my phone off and placing it on the table before falling asleep as I listened to Zach's breathing.

//

I got woken up by the sound of my phone ringing

I moved my hand around on the nightstand until I found it and answered the call without looking

"Hello?" I spoke softly

"Ee-Ah?" Justin's voice came through the speaker

"Jus? Is everything ok?" I sat up slightly, doing my best to try not waking up Zach

"I don't know, he's back and so I just grabbed my things and now I'm just walking around outside and I don't know" Justin said

"Do you want to come over?" I asked him

Zach stirred in his sleep and placed his chin on my chest to look at me

"Baby, who's that?" He asked

I placed my finger up, telling him to wait a minute

"Come over" I spoke again as Justin stayed silent

"I think I'll, uh, just go over to Montgomery's since he's closer" Justin finally spoke "Sorry to wake you up" He added and before I could say anything else, he hung up

I removed the phone from my ear and looked at it as Zach kissed my finger and looked at me, still wondering who was on the phone

"It was Justin" I told him

He simply nodded as he got off of me to lay on his side beside me

"Go back to bed, he's ok and you need your rest" Zach spoke as he wrapped his arm around my waist

"Just let me text Monty" I told him

I heard him sigh but he didn't protest

//

Althia:

Hey Montgomery, I know it's late but Justin just called me and idk what happened but he needs somewhere to crash and he said he was going over to yours

Althia:

Please text me when he arrives and make sure he is ok

💪💜

Althia:

Ok

💪💜

💪💜

💪💜

Althia:

Ok

Althia:

Thanks

//

"Goodnight" I said to Zach as I turned my phone off and placed it back on the table

"Come here" He muttered as I sank further into the bed

I let myself be wrapped up in his arms and before I knew it, I was sleeping again

//

I woke up the next morning, a few minutes before my alarm. I looked around the room and saw that it was empty. Confused by where Zach was, I decided to get ready for the day and head downstairs where my dad was already up.

"You're up bright and early this morning" My dad remarked as he poured himself some coffee

"Yeah, Zach has an early practice this morning and I said I would go" I lied, hoping that Zach was really on his way soon

Dad nodded and took a seat at the table

"Thanks for talking to mom about everything, by the way" I told him as I took a seat across from him

"What makes you think I spoke to your mother?" Dad questioned

"Seriously" I looked at him "I'm accused of bullying, I get involved in a fight and mom actually listened to my side of the story and believed me, and she didn't take my phone away. She basically just send me upstairs, when does that ever happen" I said

Dad laughed as he took a sip of his coffee

"Well I may have had a say but what your mother decided to do was all on her" He told me

Before I could say anything else, there was a knock at the door

"That's Zachy" I announced "Have a good day, dad! Love you!" I added before racing out of the room

From behind me, I could hear my day telling me the same thing

I opened the door and sure enough it was Zach

"Let me just get my things and put my shoes on" I told him as he nodded and started to make his way towards his car

"Who's at the door?" My mom asked as she was coming down the stairs, as I was putting my shoes on

"Zach" I answered "I'm going to his practice" I added

"Your father and I will both be home tonight so if Zach isn't busy, invite him over for dinner please" Mom said

"Alright" I replied as I grabbed my school bag

I said a quick goodbye before I walked out the door and headed towards Zach's car.